The Trojan’s offensive line was criticized heavily in their last game against the Virginia Cavaliers for their lack of discipline.
The line was responsible for most of the penalties called against USC and for disrupting their offensive flow. A holding penalty by offensive guard Khaled Holmes prevented the touchdown pass that Ronald Johnson scored for 47-yards.
“I feel terrible about it,” right guard Khaled Holmes said. “We had a bunch of those, but it’s something we can get better at.”
The line also didn’t help the running game. USC’s running backs only amassed a total of 127 yards, a 119 yard drop off from their first game against the Hawaii Warriors. Marc Tyler led USC in rushing yards with 67 yards, but only managed a 3.7 yards per carry average.
The offensive line will be able to redeem itself against the Minnesota Gophers defense, who surrendered 41 points to South Dakota (an FCS team, no less).
Hopefully the line has learned to be more disciplined in the last seven days because they will be hearing screaming Gophers fans in the fairly new TCF Bank Stadium.